Your Extracurricular Summer Reading List

Summer has well and truly arrived so why not pick up a fun summer romance to read by the pool as you soak up the sun. Of course there are hundreds of great books to choose from so where’s a poor girl to start? These five books combine unique plots and classic storytelling elements with romantic storylines that will leave you breathless and hoping for more:

Jane Austen is a classic author to read for schools, but her novels are also engaging and full of just enough romance and drama to keep us on our toes. Northanger Abbey in particular showcases a young girl’s journey into a mysterious and unknown place that has danger looming around every corner… or does it?

If you have been keeping up with your Starz subscription then you probably already know about this gem, but even if you have fallen in love with Sam Heughan’s portrayal of our favorite kilted hunk, the book is well worth a read and will start you on the 8 (soon to be 9!) book journey through 18th Century Scotland.

The Brontë sisters certainly know how to make a mysterious and atmospheric novel, but Jane Eyre in particular stands out as a thrilling tale of a governess who must navigate her feelings for her employer, as well as the strange and often dangerous mysteries of the house she has come to work in.

This gem of a novel throws aside the well trodden rules and established guidelines for what a novel about magic should be and embraces the wonder and mystery of the subject. Two magicians locked in a battle fall in love and must navigate their feelings and their rivalry set against the background of a visually stunning circus.

The second Brontë sister’s only novel matches her sister’s work in terms of atmosphere and tension, but pushes boundaries even further to explore a love that is poison to itself and everyone who comes in contact with it.

If you have not yet experienced Alfred Hitchcock’s silver screen portrayal of this book, definitely give it a watch, but if not, feel free to start with the book and experience the story of a young woman who marries a widower and must constantly live in the shadow of his former wife. Atmospheric and mysterious, this is definitely worth a read.